BAYER
However , particularly in Europe , there ' s growing concern about the impact of farming on biodiversity loss , greenhouse gas emissions , GMOs and the like . “ We know agriculture plays a significant part in climate change , so we must talk about how to produce more and reduce the environmental impact of crop protection at the same time . Up till 2018 our industry was not very vocal about this , which is why we committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions on our customers ’ fields and the impact of our crop protection products by 30 % until 2030 .”
Delivering the promise So how to produce more and preserve better ? Klaus Kunz is emphatic that a key tool will be better technology . “ We believe there are disruptive technologies on the rise – it ' s about digital agriculture , precision application of crop protection to reduce volumes , and new breeding technologies which will open new opportunities to grow stronger plants .” With the help of his dedicated sustainability team and a growing sustainability network inside the company he has lined up a programme of work , first making sure that all the business units across the world know , understand and engage with the strategy .
“ IF YOU WANT SUSTAINABILITY TO CREATE AN IMPACT , YOU HAVE TO EMBED IT IN THE BUSINESS ”
KLAUS KUNZ HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY , BAYER
So far the most spectacular step was to engage farmers with the concept of ' climate smart agriculture ', the economic part of the equation , and this he finds truly exciting and innovative . “ We want to incentivise growers for carbon sequestration , for a way of doing agriculture which helps to reduce emissions or even to put carbon back into the soil . We saw an opportunity to create business value from doing things more sustainably .” Many companies have set carbon neutral targets . Bayer ' s is 2030 – but many companies cannot become fully
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